Garden Show Visit

Visited the Gardening Scotland Show at Ingleston yesterday. There were many excellent show gardens and displays. Two in particular caught my eye. The first was a garden dedicated to the War Dogs that had served from the Western Front in the first World War to Helmand province in Afghanistan.

The second in the Floral Hall from Alnwick Gardens was a display of poisonous plants complete with a spooky coffin. The caged plant above is Cannabis Sativa, although for the show it was actually artificial as it requires a licence to grow it, and their licence only allows them to grow it at the Alnwick Garden. Last year I had to dig up and destroy a cannabis plant in my garden which was growing under the bird feeder, presumably dropped from the bird seed mixture.

A second cage (on the right in the photo) contained khat (Catha edulis), although again the plant was probably artificial. Khat is a flowering plant native to the Horn of Africa  and the Arabian Peninsula. Among communities from these areas, khat chewing has a history as a social custom dating back thousands of years.
Khat contains a stimulant  cathionine  which is similar to amphetamine. Chewing it can make people feel more alert but it can also cause insomnia, heart problems and feelings of anxiety and aggression. In June 2014 khat became a controlled class C drug in the UK.